Echoes of the Past: Part 1
by titancastle
Summary: An ancient enemy, from before the time of the Senshi has returned. Queen Neo Serenity and her allies join together to fight a seemingly unbeatable adversary.


Prologue:

He ignored his sore arms and the dull ache in his lower back as continued to guide the boat across the lake, the moon and stars providing the only light. The boat was small but he had spent the last hour digging the in hard ground and his arms were spent. He glanced across at his companion, a beautiful woman, wearing a velvet cloak, her long silver hair hidden under the hood. She held a small silver box in her lap. Their eyes met for a brief moment and he quickly looked away. Something about her has always unnerved him.

When they reached the shore, he helped his companion out of the boat. His guards, unhappy that he had made this journey alone, kept their distance standing along the outskirts of the forest.

"I know, this has not been…ideal, but I do appreciate your assistance. I trust that will be safe" He nodded to the box she was holding.

The woman simply smiled at him.

"I will hold up my end of the bargain, we can only hope what is buried out there stays buried. Being separated should diminish the threat but it if it ever discovered…I don't know if we will be able fight it…well good bye."

The man turned his back and started to walk away.

"Congratulations on the birth of your son…Endymion is it?" The woman spoke.

"How did you…" The man turned around to find that she was gone. He looked up at the moon, shook his head and walked away.

Crystal Tokyo:

King Endymion paced back and forth in the hallway. The ball was not due to start for another twenty minutes but judging by the debate coming from his daughter's room, their arrival will be considerably later.

"Your highness?"

King Endymion dropped to one knee and smiled at the small white kitten.

"Yes Diana?"

"The Queen and Small Lady are still getting ready. The Queen said that they would be out shortly."

"Yes thank you." King Endymion smiled again and stood up.

He watched as the small kitten retreated back towards Small Lady's bedroom. King Endymion listened as the chatter coming from the ballroom was becoming louder. He knew that Luna was most likely on her way to see what was taking so long.

The door opened and light spilled out in the hall. King Endymion watched as his daughter stalked out of her room scowling followed by her mother who appeared equally frustrated. King Endymion dropped to his knees.

"You look beautiful my dear. Why don't we go see our friends?"

Small Lady smiled as the Queen shot him a grateful look. King Endymion stood up and took his daughter's hand. Together, the royal family made their way to the ballroom.

Saturn's eyes widened as she stepped into the ballroom. Between the decorations and the dresses, Saturn had never seen that many shades of pink before. She did not attend many balls but she was here by the request of the Queen, was an invitation she did not dare turn down. The ball marked the end of the Cherry Blossom Festivals that had lasted the entire week.

On each table there were cherry blossoms from Jupiter's trees. She had handpicked each one that would be used to decorate the ballroom. There were so many people in attendance and she scanned the room for a familiar face.

Saturn quickly spotted Uranus and Neptune standing by the piano looking over sheet music. Smiling she walked towards them.

"Hotaru!"  
Saturn stopped short. No one was looking in her direction.

"I must be hearing things. No one has called me that in years." She muttered to herself.

"Hotaru! Over here!"

The voice, as clear as day sounded so familiar but she could not place it. She weaved her way through the crowd following the voice.

"I'm out here!"

Saturn opened the glass doors leading out to the balcony and stepped outside. There was a slight chill in the air and Saturn wrapped her arms around herself.

"Hello?" She called out.

There was no one on the balcony. Taking one last look, Saturn shook her head and headed back to the doors.

"You are just going to leave me out here?"

Saturn turned back around and froze. Standing in front of her was a tall woman, long black hair and a purple dress. On her forehead was a black star.

"Y-you...you were destroyed! You can't be here!" Saturn started to back peddle.

"Oh, I never went anywhere." Mistress 9 laughed.

Saturn started to feel dizzy and the balcony started to spin. She reached out for anything to try steady herself. Her fingers wrapped around the glaive, she did not know where it came from but she was grateful nonetheless.

Saturn steadied herself as Mistress 9 continued to laugh.

"I can not allow you to be here." Saturn eye's blazed.

Everything stopped as she raised the glaive, time, space, and sound. The party seemed to be a lifetime away. The glaive lowered and there was nothing.

Saturn slowly opened her eyes, something was not right. She tried to make out the voices around her.

"Did you see anything?"

"No, nothing. We saw that she went came out here. She seemed like she was talking to someone."

"We ran out when we saw the glaive."

Saturn's eyes finally focused. Neptune, Pluto and Uranus were walking around the balcony. Jupiter, Mars and Venus were huddled together talking while the Queen and King stood by the door with Artemis at their feet. Small Lady, Luna and Diana and Mercury were sitting next to her.

"She is awake!" Small Lady exclaimed as everyone rushed over.

"Easy." Mercury said as Saturn tried to sit up.

"Where did she go?" Saturn asked.

"Where did who go?" Small Lady asked.

"Mistress 9! She was here! I saw her!" Saturn exclaimed.

"Mistress 9 was destroyed. We defeated her." The Queen replied gently.

"She was here." Saturn insisted.

Everyone exchanged worried looks. Saturn could not understand why they did not believe her.

"Saturn…you almost destroyed us…you had the glaive." Neptune began.

"I-I don't remember." Saturn stammered.

"That is enough, I need to get her inside." Mercury announced standing up.

Saturn tried to get up on her own but was still weak. She felt as though she was back to the days where walking down the stairs would cause her to be short of breath.

"I don't think that I can get up…" Saturn whispered apologetically.

"It is ok." Mercury kindly smiled.

Jupiter stepped forward and crouched down, being careful not step on her long emerald gown. She easily lifted up Saturn, cradling her in her arms.

"I think that we should end the celebration for now." Luna spoke up.

"I agree." The Queen nodded.

"I will inform our guests." King Endymion stepped back inside.

"In the meantime, the grounds should be checked. I don't know who or what Saturn saw, but we must find out." Neo Queen Serenity sighed.

They have experienced so many years peace and she did not want that to fail now.

"You all need to come inside." Endymion reappeared at the door.

"Is there something wrong?" Neo Queen Serenity asked noticing the stunned expression on her husband's face.

"We have a visitor." He stated and motioned for them to follow him.

As they reentered the ballroom they noticed that most of the guests had already started to make their way to exit but some stayed behind, curious about the new arrival.

"Who is her-?" Neo Queen Serenity stopped short.

A tall woman with two-toned golden hair that fell nearly to the floor, eyes blazing stood in the middle of the room.

"Galaxia!" Neo Queen Serenity gasped.

"We need to talk." Galaxia folded her arms.


End file.
